A ceremony was held on Tuesday to honour those who perished during the Holodomor genocide in the Ukraine.

During 1932 and 1933, the Soviet Union imposed a man made famine that led to the deaths of up to 10 million people.

Crops were confiscated and regulations were imposed to prevent residents to venture outside of their community in order to search for food.

Ukrainian Relations of Saskatchewan Terry Dennis says the Holodomor genocide is something that the province should take time to remember. “With our province being 13% of Ukrainian descent in Saskatchewan, it is something that we should never forget, a genocide of millions of people that were starved in 1932 and 1933, with one third of them being young kids.”

The service held in Regina took place at the Holodomor Statue inside of Wascana Centre nearby the Legislative Building. The statue provides a powerful reminder of the genocide according to Dennis.

This week has been recognized as Holodomor Memorial Week.

International Holodomor Memorial Day is recognized on the fourth Saturday of November, with this year falling on November 27. Dennis says Saturday is a chance to reflect on the victims of the genocide. “I think back to the suffering they did, the people who were lucky enough to escape and get over here and I think just to honour the survivors and remember the stories and we don’t ever want to go through with that again.”

The legislative assembly in Saskatchewan was the first jurisdiction in North America to recognize the Holodomor when they passed the Ukrainian Famine and Genocide Memorial Day Act in 2008.